A Hidden Past
by euphoric-acid
Summary: An inside look at Shalimar's past. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

A hidden Past

Disclaimer: I don't own Mutant X and never will

Summary : My insight to Shalimar's past

Chapter 1

Shalimar lay awake just staring at the ceiling. She couldn't take much more of this, she felt trapped like one of those animals she'd seen in a picture book at school, the ones that were caged up in the zoo. Every fibre of her being just wanted her to run, run into the night and away from this hellhole.

If only she could just break free from the chains that bound her. But it was no use; her father had become more inventive in the ways he used to keep her from escaping at night. First it was merely the locking of her door, then the windows, but then as she fought his every attempt the windows became barred, blocking all light, a rope tied her ankle to her bed restricting her movement around the room.

But now after her recent escape Shalimar found herself locked in the basement, her arms crossed in front of her, her hands handcuffed to each other with a long chain under the bed. It was beyond Shalimar why he didn't just let her go he never seemed to want her around nor did her mother for that matter. She hated them and she hated what they did to her, sometimes she wished they were dead, as dead as they made her feel when they hit her and yelled at her like she wasn't even human. Like she was the Freak they kept yelling at her that she was.

_"You're a Freak, not even human, a waste of space, nothing, you don't even deserved to call me mother, don't look at me, how dare you, get out of my sight, look at what you've done, how can you not see that's not normal, I don't want to see you again, you freak, freak, freak!" _

The cruel words haunted her mind never letting her forget what she was, who she was to the ones who were supposed to love her most.

As the morning finally came Shalimar was rudely awakened by the ruff hands of her Father, once she was free from chains he manhandled upstairs, her feet barley touched the ground. There were four men in suits waiting in the lving room,

"Well here we are boys, our own personal Freak, she's yours' now."

And with that Nicholas Fox threw his daughter towards the suits. It was then she started to struggle, Shalimar lashed out with all her might, she kicked, hit and bit at the offending hands,

"Get her on the floor quick, we'll sedate her."

However that was not going to be as easy as it sounded, because at that moment Shalimar choose to leap from the floor to the top of the cupboard a good 2 meters off the ground.

"I told you, you had to watch that freak." Nicholas growled

The suits however were already acting they got their electric sticks out and soon had a startled Shalimar on the floor and unconscious.

She felt only pain before everything went dark.

TBC

Hope you enjoyed next chapter up soon


	2. Chapter 2

A Hidden Past

Thanks for the reviews I really appreciate it, this is my first fanfiction. I'm not sure of any pairings yet but my favourite is B/S I will always try to update as soon as possible.

Chapter 2

Shalimar had always been small for her age, her mother had always passed it off as having a "petite" build, but Shalimar put it down to only having one meal a day, if she was lucky, her parents hope it would slow her vast amounts of energy. Shalimar was 9 years old but just short of 4ft tall, she has long blonde curly locks and with her fair complexion some would say she looked angelic.

However as Shalimar woke she used these assets to try and hide away from the new environment that confronted her. The extreme white wash of the walls so different from the dark dingy basement she was used hurt her eyes. The smells that assaulted her nose were of antiseptic and hospitals.

This is not good. I'm not sick why am I in a hospital…… 

Shalimar's train of thought was interrupted as she heard voices accompanied by footsteps heading towards her door.

"We have a very interesting specimen for you sir, very interesting blood work here take a look."

"Hmm a new-mutant, a feral a very powerful feral, lets take a look shall we."

She heard a hand connect with the door handle, the key in the lock, Shalimar ran to bed as the door opened. A very scary man in a white lab coat and white hair came through the door.

"Hello Miss Fox my name is Mr Eckhart and we going to be working together. Get her prepped."

The "doctors" approached Shalimar was out of room there was no more room to back up, they pinned her on the bed.

"No, no, no please don't, what are you doing? Ouch!"

Her cries were ignored as they injected her, she felt her strength ebbed slightly as the Sedative entered her system but it wasn't enough to keep her down a she fought back. Shalimar managed to throw one of the orderlies who went crashing into the opposite wall, the other orderlies backed off slightly surprised by her strength.

"What are you doing? She's just a little girl go get her you idiots."

The orderlies advanced once again, this time they had her cornered, one orderly grabbed her ankles the second held her stomach to the floor, and the third held her arms down. They lifted her in the air.

"Finally, now get her to room 314 and leave her there."

Eckhart then stepped towards Shalimar who was struggling mid-air.

"Now Miss Fox you are going learn a lesson in respect and manners but above all the consequences for fighting back. Take her away."

Room 314 was remarkably similar to the one she'd just been in expect there was no bed but there were grey metal pipes in the 4 corners of the room. Shalimar sat in the middle of the room with her knees pulled into her chest suspicious of what the pipes were for.

It was soon clear exactly what they were, blow torch flame throwers. The far left pipe suddenly ignited, Shalimar startled ran to the opposite corner, she sat back on her haunches teeth bared eyes glowing. A voice then filtered into the room from a speaker, it was Eckhart.

"You see Miss Fox, all ferals have a primal fear of fire. This will be your fate if you ever decide to be uncooperative again, is that understood, Miss Fox?"

To punctuate his sentence he turned on the blow torch Shalimar had backed into. The heat and the pain was immediate as the flames scorched her back. Shalimar screamed out in pain as she withdrew to the middle of the room, the only place safe from the flames. Once she was there all 4 pipes light up, Shalimar curled in on herself only to be assaulted again by a wave of pain and nausea as the skin on her back stretched.

"I said is that understood, Miss Fox?"

Shalimar slowly raised her head as the white-haired man's face appeared in the window, he raised an eyebrow. Shalimar's eyes glowed with anger as she slowly nodded her head.

"What was that Miss Fox?"

"Yes I understand."

"Good, now goodnight Miss Fox."

Gas started filling the room from an air vent. Shalimar started to fill dizzy as the fast breathing took more gas into her lungs and before long everything went dark.

So she had what use wished for a live away from her parents, however this was not what she had in mind, who would've thought live could get any worse.

TBC

Could you please let me know if this format is easier to read than the last chapter.

Sorry for the late update. Please keep reading and reviewing


	3. Chapter 3

A Hidden Past

Thanks for the reviews keep reading

Chapter 3

When Shalimar woke it could've been days later for all she knew. She had a headache the size of Texas and her back hurt like there was no tomorrow, but for all Shal knew there might not be a tomorrow for her; they could kill her any day. Shalimar was then hit by a sudden wave of nausea, she rolled off the bed, her head swam and the room started spinning, Shalimar fell to her knees, coughed violently and threw up before collapsing completely and sinking back into the darkness.

Muffled voices filtered through the murky consciousness of Shalimar's brain, she opened her eyes to be dazzled by a bright light. She was dressed in a full length white top and matching trouser, bound to a table at the chest, waste and knees by some kind of restraints Shalimar had never seen before. Eckhart's face then swam into her vision.

"These, Miss Fox, are ectomorphic restraints they can be very draining. Just try to relax Miss Fox, because this is going to be very painful."

Shalimar didn't have time to ask any questions, even if she had, she probably wouldn't have been able to. The pain was excruciating, she didn't even know what was happening but every time she struggled the pain in her back was aggravated which made the pain of whatever they were doing even worse. She cried out until it became too much and black clouded her vision once again.

The cycle of abuse continued day after day, never ending. They performed tests and experimented on her. These experiments included what would bring out her feral side, what would subdue it, how fast can her body heal broken bones and internal bleeding, how far could she be pushed before the feral would take over and cause serious damage to one person, they extracted constant blood samples and spinal fluid and beaten daily.

Shalimar continued to fight back over the first two months, ending up in the flame room every time, just as Eckhart had promised. But she wasn't about to give up, not yet, she couldn't let them win, they hadn't broken her yet.

One day about two months in Shalimar had been placed in the observation room, with a small fire. Shalimar was completely focused on the fire and getting as far away as possible, her eyes wild and in complete feral mode all senses heightened to their most powerful. It was then, over the smells and sounds of the hospital that had become familiar a more familiar and disturbing smell reached her, one that invoked fear that nearly rivaled that of the fire. Nicholas Fox.

"Mr. Fox you have a very interesting daughter."

"Interesting? That in there is a freak, a less than human freak Mr. Eckhart, what exactly did you call me in for?"

"Well Mr. Fox we have some new research and we need your permission to carry it out on your daughter."

"I've already given you permission to do whatever you deem necessary to make her normal."

"Yes and we thank you for this opportunity but this procedure has a higher chance of mortality then anything we've previously talked about. We merely need your permission to continue."

"Of course you have it, what you need me to sign, I've read your reports Mr. Eckhart I am pleased with what you're doing, keep it up."

Shalimar couldn't believe what she was hearing, until now she hadn't believed her father was capable of letting these things happen to his own daughter, that maybe he was just ignorant of what was happening. There was no doubt that he was a class "A" creep but Shal never thought he'd go this far. Now she was broken.

TBC

Next chapter up soon.


	4. Chapter 4

A Hidden Past

Sorry it took so long school works a bitch. Thanks for the reviews they've all been great I've been thinking about doing a sequel with a BS pairing what do you think.

Chapter 4

That was it, she was broken, no one was going to help her now. If Shalimar wanted to get this Hell Hole she'd have to do it alone. With in seconds her decision was made, she would do it. She would show all those orderlies out there exactly what she'd been feeling all these months. It would take time and planning but she will be successful, because if she weren't Shalimar was sure she would die in the place, that was only a matter of time, a time which she would have to beat.

It had been a year since she had made that decision. But now she was ready, her powers had grown, of course they had been tested but Shalimar had learnt self-discipline, no one could get at her unless she let them. She now knew off by heart the weekly routines, the orderlies' rotations, and the exact timing when there would be no one in her corridor. It was only a matter of days now.

January 5th this was the day. Today Shalimar's' most hated orderlie, a man named Rick would be in charge. Shalimar had chosen this particular one for a reason, he was the most vicious, he would beat her when she was down, break an extra bone, just in case, he'd play mind games, constantly taunting her, offering food one moment an taking it away the next. Shalimar hoped that if she didn't kill him Eckhart would.

Here it goes. 5 am round up time, sedatives and electric sticks were heading her way, to get her to the mornings testing. Shalimar was already awake and had been for hours going over the final points. She lay in wait for Rick hidden in the shadows perched on her bed. His footsteps echoed up the corridor, the doorknob twisted, her eyes glowed in anticipation. The door opened and he walked through.

"Good Morning Shalimar, you'll never believe what I have in store for you today."

"Actually Rick I think it'll be you who won't believe what's happening. In oh say a couple of seconds."

"What the hell are you …."

Rick never had a chance to finish his sentence as she pounced. He was flat on his back, Shalimar stood over him, eyes yellow and teeth bared. Now she was going to show them what it was like to feel really, really scared. She bent down and whispered in his ear.

"Pay back, Rick."

She then started to beat him with all her might, until she heard ribs break and he screamed out. This alerted the others, two other orderlies came sprinting into the room. They paused shocked at the sight of a little girls beating one of the strongest orderlies they had. It didn't take long for them to recover, they advanced on Shalimar, one took a powerful blow to Shalimar's shin, there was a definite crack of bone, but Shalimar didn't let it faze her as she sent the offending man crashing into the wall behind him. Rick was now unconscious on the floor looking nothing like the man that had come in only a few moments before. As Shalimar moved to beat the crap out of the collapsed orderly on the floor, the other approached her from behind and grabbed her right wrist and wisted, there was another sickening crack, but Shalimar now seemingly immune to pain continued to fight until all three were unconscious.

Once the mission was accomplished Shalimar stood up, took a deep breath and walked towards the door. There was no going back now; they would never let her live after what she'd just done.

She walked out into the whitewash hallway and headed to the exit as two men approached. She leaped over the first spinning mid-air and kicking him forward to the ground, she landed neatly facing the last orderly to stand in her way, she gave him a soild punch to the gut and ran to the door.

The door would not open and by now the alert that she had escaped would be going round the entire building. She looked to the side and saw a key code panel. Using her Feral sight she saw the finger prints over the numbers she had the numbers now all she needed was the order, she searched her memory and found it, she had listen to the tones of the keypad every day since she got here, it never changed. So with confidence she typed the code: 924306# the door opened.

She could smell the early morning air now and followed it through a maze of corridors, until she reached it, her freedom.

TBC

I'll update soon


	5. Chapter 5

A Hidden Past

Chapter 5

The air was fresh as Shalimar walked down an unknown street, the wind made her tangled up hair fly behind her. There was no one around, not this early in the morning any way. She walked and walked until she came to a children's park, she enter and crawled into a plastic tubing, she curled herself in a ball and fell asleep, for once not worrying what torture would wake her.

It was the noise that woke her. The cars, the people, the talking and laughter were suddenly too much. Shalimar had spent her entire life in seclusion and this amount of noise to her feral hearing was overwhelming. Shalimar crawled out of the tube and put her hands over her ears in a vain attempt to make it stop.

Children were filing into the large playground, Shalimar sat off to one side still with her hands over her ears and pulled her legs into her chest, she was really starting to hurt now, her leg and her arm, god she ached all over, she just wanted it to go away and…….

"Hi"

Shalimar's thoughts were interrupted and she slowly raised her head against the glare of the sun. It was a boy not much older than herself but a lot taller, he had very dark hair and deep chocolate eyes like her own.

"Hey" Shalimar replied weakly.

"My name's Brennan, where are you from I haven't seen you around here before."

"I uh just moved here just last…." Shalimar trailed off as another wave of pain flowed through her.

"Hey are you ok, maybe I should get my mum, you don't look so good we could get you to a hospital."

"Hospital?" Shalimar questioned, fear was slowly rising in her throat, she couldn't go back there why would he make her do that, maybe he was working for them, he just wanted to hurt her, like all the others.

"Yeah, you know a hospital where they give you drugs and make you better." Brennan carried on light heartedly oblivious to the fear seeping into her eyes.

"NO!" Shalimar screamed, "leave me alone I won't go back, I won't." Shalimar stood and started backing away from the boy, who was now looking increasingly concerned.

"Hey I just want to help, you really should see a doctor." He approached her, stretching out his hand.

"NO!" Shalimar screamed again, heads turned towards her out burst, but she didn't care. As Brennan took one more step towards her, Shalimar's eyes went feral; she lunged towards him and shoved him off his feet and into the air.

Shalimar took no time in seeing how he landed or if he was all right as more concerned parents came towards her. She looked around, desperately looking for a way to escape. She saw it, the fence on the other side of the park lead into a back alley. So with the ease of a gazelle, she ran and with a hop, skip and a jump she was over.

Nightfall came quicker than she had expected, Shalimar found herself in an alleyway, she was tired and her body ached. She found a mattress sheltered by a cardboard box and crawled inside. She sat and started to eat the leftovers she had found at a café. She knew it had been an age since she had eaten but she really didn't feel hungry, she just wanted to sleep so sleep she did.

Shalimar woke to find a man shaking her; he was leaning right into her face. He was unshaven, fat and smelt of booze a lot of booze.

"Hey, hey what do you think your doing? This is my place, you can't sleep here, you have to pay to sleep here."

Shalimar started to move to leave when the man grabbed her broken wrist. The pain was instant and mind numbing, she couldn't fight back.

"Where do you think you're going? You've slept here, now you have to pay."

The man reached for his trousers with one hand but kept a firm grip on Shalimar with the other. Shalimar instantly read his intentions, she may have been in seclusion all these years but she wasn't secluded from everyone. Not the men that liked to tell her their fantasies, or the men that would rather carry them out. Shalimar had seen the full scale of what humans could do to one another and she wasn't about to let it happen again willingly.

She cried out with all her might, she struggled fiercely and kicked and punched, but the second he was on top of her the fight was over, he was too heavy, she knew the more she struggled the worse it would get but to not struggle at all that was letting it happen and she just wouldn't be that weak.

TBC

Next chapter Adam to the rescue, it's nearly finished.


	6. Chapter 6

A Hidden Past

Chapter 6

Shalimar's feral DNA kept her conscious, though she wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She had always wished for everything to black out so she wouldn't have to remember it in such clear detail, reliving it night after night, encounters with Rick had always stood out in her dreams, the way he'd call her a freak. But tonight she was glad she was different because as soon as he passed out Shalimar was able to removed the dead weight of his body on top of hers and escape once again.

She ran and ran. It felt like all she'd been doing all her life was running, she couldn't bear to do any more, Shalimar just wanted it all to go away, she hated this world, she hated her life, what on earth did she have to live for.

As her own thoughts began to overwhelm her, Shalimar slowed her run as tears came pouring down her face, she put her hands on her knees as she gasped for air through her sobs. She wasn't just crying for feeling lost and alone, she was crying for everything that had happened to her since the day she was born. Not once since her father had started beating her had she cried but now the floodgates were open and Shalimar didn't feel like it would ever stop.

The sky turn dark, and the temperature dropped about 2 degrees, the air smelt like moisture, it was going to rain. The weather would match her mood, either that or cause her to get hypothermia and die. It was strange but some part deep down inside of her hoped for the latter. She would have stayed out in the rain all night but Shalimar didn't like the rain, she didn't know why but she'd just never been too fond of water.

She looked for shelter and soon found it in an abandoned old motel. She walked into the dark and gloom and was oddly comforted by its depressing nature. She meandered her way through corridors to find a room she could settle into. Once it was found she sat in a corner and waited for death.

Death seemed to be a long way off, but day-by-day she felt her strength ebb away. She slept most of the time or picked away at scabs and fingernails. The days seemed to all blur into one another until the nasty encounter with the man in the alley felt like a lifetime ago.

A new sound awaken Shalimar's senses it wasn't the humming of the old generator, or the scuttling of mice, this was different, this was human. Footsteps. Now more alert than she had been in days she positioned herself on top of the old bed frame in the corner ready to pounce.

The footsteps would stop every so often, most likely checking rooms looking for her. But Shalimar wasn't going to let them take her, not again, she would kill them if she had to before she let that happen again. The footsteps were now accompanied by a voice calling her name. The voice sounded familiar but no she wouldn't let that distract her she had to stay focused or she'd never do it she was too weak.

The door opened, the man peered into the room, he saw nothing but darkness and a pair of yellow eyes glaring at him.

"Shalimar? I'm here to help you, I don't know if you remember me but my name's…"

His sentence was cut off as the young girl hurled herself at him. The man was caught off guard by her strength and fell back, the girl on top of him scratching and tearing at his clothes, fighting tooth and nail. He was taken aback by not only her strength but her desperation and fear. Not wanting to hurt her he gently started to try and pull her off him.

"No Shalimar you don't understand I'm not here to hurt you I just….aahhh!"

Shalimar's fingers had broken deep into his skin just underneath his left collarbone. That was it he grabbed both her wrists and sat himself up so they were eye to eye.

"Now just stop for a moment will you."

The savage beast inside her seemed to calm, the yellow left her eyes and for the first time she looked at him. Her lips moved but no sound was made, she may have calmed but the fear was still present in her eyes and burning bright.

"It's alright Shalimar I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Your safe." He let go of her wrists and embraced her.

As he did this Shalimar breathed in his scent, it was familiar, she knew this man.

"Dr. Adam?"

"Yes Shalimar it's me I'm going to take care of you it's all right now, you can rest."

He gently leaned down and picked her up, cradled in his arms liked a baby and walked towards the exit.

Shalimar stared at him with glassy eyes as he carried her. This was the only man she'd ever meet that hadn't wanted to hurt her. She felt reassured but still wary; she had learnt never to trust anyone, because they could just be playing you.

Without realising where they had been going Shalimar soon found herself in new surroundings, in some kind of plane. Adam sat her in a stool, she winced slightly at the pain of a new position but was more concerned as Adam started to move away. She let out the tiniest of whimpers, but he heard it and turned. He gave her a reassuring smile and reached behind him for a blanket. He placed it around her shoulders and gave them a slight squeeze.

"Don't worry Shalimar, I'm not going to leave you, but I do need to go to the control panel over there so we can get home."

Shalimar nodded. Adam put the Helix on auto pilot and went back to Shalimar, he picked her up and placed her on his lap. He lifted his hand to his mouth and said;

"I've got her we're coming home."

"Where are we going Dr. Adam?" Shalimar asked

"Sanctuary"

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

A Hidden Past

Chapter 7

The journey to sanctuary remained pretty much silent. Adam held Shalimar tight and while she didn't seem as agitated as she was when they first met, she did not relax in his arms. Adam rocked her gently throughout the trip, constantly trying to reassure her but her facial expression gave no sign that she even heard him. She merely looked worn and tried; her eyes held an age that Adam thought most Adults wouldn't even reach.

"Shalimar?" Nothing, no response, she seemed to stare into nothingness, drained of life, but Adam felt there was a need to tell her what was going to happen, so in case she was listening she would be prepared.

"Shalimar when we get to sanctuary, there will be someone else there, his name is Harrison Blake he's going to help me make sure you're ok. He's a good friend of mine, he won't hurt you ok."

Shalimar did not reply. She did however hear him, and although she wasn't sure about this man she didn't know she trusted Adam, despite everything she did trust him. She remembered him in their therapy sessions when she was more than a baby, he had made her laugh, played with her, she felt safe with him. She wouldn't fight him, even if she wanted to she didn't think she could. She had no fight left in her.

"Shalimar, Shalimar wake up we're here." Shalimar woke, she hadn't even realised she had fallen asleep. Adam lifted her in his arms once again and cradled her to his chest.

"We're going to go to my lab. We'll see if we can make the hurt stop."

They walked out of the Helix and into sanctuary, Shalimar's eyes darted around taking in the new surroundings.

"Harrison! I have her, is the lab ready, she's not looking that good."

"I'm ready Adam bring her in."

Adam walked through into the lab and placed the weightless child on the bio-bed.

"Okay Shalimar we're going to scan you. There will be a beam of light that'll go up and down your body, it won't hurt but you'll have to remain very still."

He gained no response, but then he didn't really expect one. He gently stroked her matted hair and squeezed her hand before going to his command console. Harrison started up the scanner. This startled Shalimar but she soon calmed and let the hum of the machines and electronics relax her as she closed her eyes.

Chatter began as they waited for the scan.

"So how old is she? 8, 9?"

"11 actually. She's very malnourished, she's um 4ft 1, a probably underweight for that."

The scan finished with a beep.

"Okay Harrison what have we got?"

"I'm sending it to you now Adam, but it doesn't look good."

"Okay, we have a fractured leg, broken arm, cracked ribs, a few skull fractures, onset on pneumonia in the left lung, cut and abrasions to 80 of her body, some nasty burns and the scans shows she hasn't eaten in 5 days." Adam said slowly, when he finished he dropped his head and massaged his forehead.

"And you say she attacked you?"

"She did. She fought tooth and nail before she realised who I was. But I wasn't finished."

"You're kidding."

"No I'm not, there are signs of repeated sexual abuse, as well as physical and mental."

"My God, It's horrific what humans are capable of, or what the human body can withstand, but what sick pervert would want to test that."

"This isn't just a human body Harrison, this is a ferals'. It can withstand far more than the average human and has greater regenerative abilities; Shalimar is one of the strongest ferals ever recorded. Her mutation is probably the thing that has kept her alive."

"Where should we start?"

"I want photographs taken of all her injuries, then we'll wash her, start her on antibiotics and painkillers, dress her wounds but we'll have to put her asleep to set her bones."

As the photos were taken, Shalimar acted as if catatonic, staying in any position they placed her, with an expressionless face. Once they had finished the photos they slowly removed her shoes, trousers and t-shirt. They were again met with no resistance, but were appalled by what they saw, abrasions didn't cover the welts found in the backs of her legs. They gently washed her down, trying not to cause any more pain not that they could tell if they had, Shalimar remain unresponsive to anything they did.

Adam and Harrison cleaned her up, getting rid of most of the abrasion as if they never existed. They knew they could do a good job of getting rid of the physical appearance but each mark and scar held its own emotional damage, which was much harder to heal. They sat her up to look at her back and saw the massive burn mark, the raised scar covered the span and length of her back, welts carved in and out like pox marks.

Once she was washed Adam laid her down.

"Ok Shalimar I'm going to put you to sleep now. You won't feel a thing."

Shalimar didn't reply but enjoyed the feel of sleep wash over her, not really caring if she never woke up.

TBC

One more chap to go I think


	8. Chapter 8

A Hidden Past

Thanks for the reviews, particularly those of you who are regular reviewers, you know who you are.

This is the last chapter so Jesse will not appear, however if it is requested I will work on a "when Jesse meet Shalimar and Adam" story but I don't know how old Jesse was when he meet MX so if anyone has any ideas let me know. I think it's around 16 or 17.

Chapter 8

She did wake however she always did. When she woke it was nearly a whole day later, she was still in the lab but flat out on a bed, Adam was sitting on a chair next to her his head on the bed fast asleep. Shalimar felt different, she was clean her hair was once again silky ringlets and her skin was soft. She was dressed in a medical gown, and had a cast on her arm and leg, bandages were rapped around her ribs and there was an IV in her arm and breathing tubes in her nose, which she promptly took out.

As she examined herself Harrison noticed she was awake. He came over and knelt down beside her.

"Good morning Shalimar, I'm sure Adam's told you but I'm Dr. Harrison Blake, a friend of Adam's. You must be hungry would you like something to eat?"

He got no reply but Adam had instructed him to make her eat something but not anything too solid which might be a shock to her system. He took a yoghurt out of his pocket and offered it to her. Shalimar looked at him suspiciously unsure of what he was offering, Harrison noticed this and took the seal off the yoghurt and held it out to her. Shalimar sat up onto the balls on her feet leaning forward smelling the yoghurt. She was wary of any kind of poison or drug that might lace the food, she had learnt the hard way not to accept anything given to her too readily.

Harrison did not move while she seemed to inspect the air around the pot. Then in one sudden movement she reached forward and grabbed it out of his hand, held it close to her chest in one hand and jumped off the bed to hide in a corner, taking the IV stand with her. The movement startled Adam and he woke suddenly.

"Shalimar?"

"She's okay, she's over there I gave her a yoghurt."

"Good, did she say anything?"

"Not a word, she just took the yoghurt -after close inspection and ran off to that corner."

Adam looked into the direction that Harrison pointed in and sure enough there was the little girl licking out the yoghurt pot. He walked up and knelt down in front of her.

"Hey Shalimar are you feeling any better?"

Shalimar, who was now finished with the yoghurt merely stared at the floor.

"Say why don't we go to the kitchen and see if we can't find anything else you can eat."

At the thought of food Shalimar looked up. Adam stood up and held out his hand looking hopefully at Shalimar. She didn't move for a while but didn't take her eyes off him, Adam saw this as a good sign and didn't move. Then slowly Shalimar started to move, and although her casts were inhibiting her intentions were clear, but still Adam did not move. He waited until she had stood up completely and her hand was in his before he reached down and picked her up. He carefully removed the IV from her arm and balanced her on his hip. Her legs swung from his hips as he walked into the kitchen, he sat her on the counter and got out everything he thought her system could handle. Once she had eaten her full, which wasn't all that much considering the last time she'd eaten, tiredness seemed to sweep through her body and her eyes dropped.

"Hey, where's my Wild Cat," Shalimar looked up at this comment, "There she is, my little fighter. How about I show you your room, come here."

Adam opened out his arms and Shalimar immediately opened her, a sign of trust forming between them. He took her to her room as they entered Shalimar's eyes widen in awe. He placed her on the bed, her eyes continued to wander around the room taking in all the detail.

"Well I hope you like it, your bathroom is through there and there are some clothes in the dresser for you. If you need anything my room is the down the hall second door on the right, Harrison's is opposite on the left, okay?"

She gave a small nod, the first sign of communication since the journey in the helix. He left her to get change and came back a while later to find her sitting on the bed waiting for him. He walked over to her and she shuffled under the covers. He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled up the covers around her.

"Goodnight Shalimar, I'll see you in the morning." He placed a light kiss on her forehead and left quietly.

Two weeks later things were going well, Shalimar's bones were almost healed, and the physical scares were mostly gone, both Adam and Harrison were amazed at how quickly she had healed. Shalimar had also begun to talk, more to Adam than Harrison but this was still very limited and only done when necessary, facial expression also remained limited, she had yet to smile, laugh or cry. But it wasn't the physical Adam was worried about, he knew he could fix that. It was the mental scaring that Adam was worried about, he had given her medication to try and give her a restful night's sleep, and while it seemed to dampen the ferocity of the nightmares they were never gone completely. Shalimar also never wanted to talk about the nightmares or anything that had happened to her, Adam tried not push her if she wasn't ready but he didn't think bottling it up was the answer. He just hoped she would open up soon.

It was this night two weeks after her rescue that Shalimar had told Adam she didn't want any more medication, she said that maybe the nightmares were supposed to help her worked stuff out and that her subconscious needed them or she never get passed this. Adam thought this was a very mature thing for a young girl to say and while he wasn't sure on the idea he let her try.

At 2am it all kicked off, an ear piercing scream filled the night air. Adam and Harrison ran to the source. Shalimar was sitting in a cold sweat in the corner of the room, knees into her chest, and hands over her ears, rocking back and fourth. Adam came right over to her and knelt before her.

"Shalimar? What is it, what's wrong?"

He received no answer other than a hysterical babbling coming from the tiny creature.

"Shalimar?" Adam reached out to touch her shoulder, and as he did he finally provoked a reaction as she pulled violently away.

"No! Don't touch me."

"Shalimar it's me it's Adam."

"Adam?"

"Yes." It was then tears started to form in her eyes as Adam pulled her into a hug. She completely broke down in his arms so Adam lifted her from the ground and took her to the bed, laid down holding Shalimar close. He rocked her gently whispering that everything's alright.

Shalimar didn't say anything but Adam had a good idea on what might've scared her so much. She held him tight that Adam thought his clothes might stay wrinkled forever.

"You're safe now ok"

"Promise?"

"Yes I won't let anything bad happen to you ever again, you're safe with me."

"You won't make me go back to them, will you? I don't want to, don't make me."

"Go back to who." No answer.

"I want to stay here, with you."

"Shalimar you will always have a place here."

That seemed to calm here she looked at him and offered a small smile of thanks that warmed Adam's heart and meant more than he ever thought it could.

The End


End file.
